There are many useful skills in social media to have, like content creation and management or data analysis, but for me, creativity and thinking outside the box is the most important thing. It’s more art than science - which tools of the trade can’t replicate, only amplify. 

Flexibility -- sometimes posts need to go sooner than planned or be delayed/canceled at the last minute. Sometimes campaigns need to change to meet the moment or consumer sentiment even when you’re well into the planning or even execution process. Being flexible and letting things roll off my back has been invaluable!

Being transparent and honest with leaders! Forming a relationship with your leader that’s built on trust and honesty helps to make you viewed as a trustworthy employee who will help leadership see a different perspective!

Scheduling a yearly check-up on my career goals to see if I’m meeting them, if I want to change them etc. Also, having a mentor who can guide me and answer any questions that I may have. 

For me, it’s been organization and the basics of project management. It’s oddly the skill that the team and other colleagues are most impressed with, and seem to be the most rare among communications people at my organization. Learning how to organize and break down large projects into small pieces and set deadlines and communication for each small piece along the way is what sets me apart, to the point where my boss has started offering me out as a consultancy to help people get processes or get organized. 

I think adaptability in skill sets (even, or maybe especially as I get older ) and environments has helped. You don’t have to know everything but it’s good to be a quick study and learn to fill in the gaps instead of staying in your inadequacy. 

I have to say that one skill I have that is a game changer is the willingness to understand I don’t know everything and always have a capacity to learn. Closing yourself off because you know everything you can know, makes it that much harder to be open to what is new; technology is always changing and making an impact in the roles I play. As a Marketing Manager for an international nonprofit, I have to be willing to learn and listen to what is new so that I do not get left behind the curve. 

The one skill that’s had the biggest impact on my career as a social media designer is mastering visual hierarchy. Understanding how to guide the viewer’s eye through a post - whether using size, color, or the placement of elements - has consistently boosted engagement and made my designs more effective. 

The skill that’s transformed my career the most is designing with a mobile-first approach. Since most social media content is consumed on mobile devices, ensuring that my designs are optimized for mobile has significantly improved user engagement, and clients have noticed!

A daily practice that I think is easy to get lost in the fray is “Always be networking.”

I think this is very important in the social media space, because we have to be very integrative across many channels and styles that are constantly evolving to be successful. And partly because so many of us are solo practitioners. 

It’s easy to fall into the rabbit hole and not look from side-to-side. But networking can help feed needs from immediate practices to career growth to helping chart a course for the future on many levels.  

I agree wholeheartedly! I cant’ tell you how many new platforms, systems, and best practices I’ve had to learn in the last few years. But, trusting that you CAN adapt and learn is one of the greatest assets. 

Embracing curiosity as a daily habit has been my biggest career accelerator. In social media, where change is constant, asking "why" and diving deep into platform changes has transformed how I approach strategy and engagement.

Developing a “Lifetime Learner” attitude and being open to learning something new every day.

One of my favorite quotes is: “If you don’t learn something new every day, it’s a waste of a day!”

Being adaptable and open to taking on new responsibilities or roles that are needed by your team.

Surprisingly it is constantly developing my oral communication and people skills. Being able to communicate the value of the work I do to colleagues and executives in terms they understand and value has been game changing.

The habit of doing what I say I’m going to do in a timely fashion. And if I can’t for some reason, getting back to the person or group I committed to and letting them know I haven’t followed through and what I will do instead.

This is more of a habit, but keeping a digital library of social media posts that I find really engaging has been so helpful in spurring ideation and creativity. I keep mine in a Google Doc and separate the posts by topic or content type. Whenever I need inspiration for an upcoming post, I go through the document and think about how I could take a brand’s post and make it better or put my own spin on it. This is especially helpful when jumping on popular trends for Instagram Reels. 

A career in social provides you with many skills, both hard and soft. One of the skills that social media has taught me is conflict resolution internally and externally. Everyone from your ideal audiences to your colleagues have an opinion on the social team’s work, which can result in conflict at times. Externally, the social team is first defense for any brand. With that, you learn to conflict manage and resolve customer service or content decision complaints by your community and more. Internally, you learn to adapt to priorities which can result in your “internal clients” feeling they’re not being represented on your channels nearly enough. You learn to balance your clients and resolve any conflict that results as social is the “first choice” distribution channel for many brands today. 

Multitasking has been the most impactful skill for me. While it’s not really been perfected, it’s been the most beneficial when it clicks and when managing numerous tasks and projects at once has worked well.